Abstract：Based on the energy variation principle, this paper proposes an approach of analyzing the effect of shear lag, shear deformation on the lateral static characteristic of curved thin-walled box girders generally used in engineering, the minimum potential principle is applied to establish the lateral governing differential equations and the corresponding natural boundary conditions, thus closed-form solutions of generalized displacements are obtained. The variations of shear lag effects of curved box girders, caused by the change of factors such as span-height ratio, types of loading and natural boundary conditions are discussed, the thin-walled curved box girders theory is enriched and developed. This study compares the finite shell element solutions with the analytical solutions of this paper and verify the validity of the proposed approach. The formulas obtained in this study develop the existing shear lag theory.
2011, Vol. 32 
